Ten Sovereigns is O’Brien’s latest Wild Rover

– Strains of “The Wild Rover” echoed around pubs in Ireland as Ten Sovereigns maintained his unbeaten record in the Group 1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket, with his trainer Aidan O’Brien dominating on a big day at the English venue.

A stuttering summer caused by illness in the O’Brien yard has turned into a bountiful autumn, with the Ballydoyle master harvesting four of the five juvenile Group races on offer at the Cambridgeshire meeting.

The rise to the top has been a rapid one for Ten Sovereigns, who made his racecourse debut just over a month ago. In a 36-day period the colt has notched three victories, his latest a 0.5-length defeat of Jash under Donnacha O’Brien, who was completing a treble on the card.

“He’s a very fast horse with a lot of speed,” the trainer said.

That speed comes from sire No Nay Never, a son of the late Scat Daddy, who was quickly identified by Coolmore as an influential stallion, and O’Brien was quick to point out the significance of the victory.

“It’s exciting for the lads (Ballydoyle ownership syndicate) because they have all the stamina in the Galileo mares and now they have Justify and No Nay Never and Scat Daddy’s speed,” O’Brien added. “That was the exciting thing about today, that he came up to Group 1 standard as you don’t really know until you run them.” –

London